The Growing Grind
by The-Artful-Trickster
Summary: Serenity had always thought she was a lucky girl, so what happens when disaster hits & she has to go onto the grind? She has to face her toughest challenge & overcome her shame of working as a pole dancer. How long can she hold up? This is a story of how Seto Kaiba finds Serenity in a strip club on a cold & lonely night. M for Lemons. Silentshipping. Adopted fic.
1. Chapter 1

Despite the glitz and the glamour the neon-lit sign suggested outside the establishment, inside the building it was dark and hazy from the customer's cigars, the smell being mixed in with the sweat glistening off the female staff. The second most favourable activity to participate in here was to drink alcohol amongst the crowd, leaving behind any lingering thoughts of immodesty and losing yourself to senses of the staffs entertainment; the first most favourable activity being more intimate in the booths in the darker areas of the club, but of course it was much easier and far cheaper to get a fix of pleasure from being close to the dance floor. It was dark now. The scene being quieter than usual. After a short silence from the dimmed stage it quickly lit back up, the many vintage-looking light bulbs being switched on with a static hum. The mob had quieted down from the last act and was now focused on the sound of bedazzled high heels clacking onto the dance floor.

The crowd began to cheer as Serenity Wheeler walked on stage wearing nothing but a stringy black thong and glittery black matching pasties covering her nipples shaped in a flower blossom pattern, she had her hair up in a messy tight bun with a simple, single black feather pointing upwards from her head; gripping the pole in one hand, as tense as she was, she began to perform an exotic dance. It had been her first time dancing on stage, and it was nerve-wrecking for her. She spent a whole month giving only lap dances to the gentlemen at the strip club, they loved her lap dances. However, customers began to desire a new stage dancer so the club owner had requested Serenity to perform.

* * *

It was an unusual case that Serenity had turned to stripping for money. Everyone had always known her to be an innocent beauty. She spent most of her time in college, studying hard, and was a cashier at her local retail mall. Things were going fantastic for her; she was making enough to support herself and was able to rent a little cute studio apartment. Her college was paid for by a scholarship she was granted. However, her little spirit shattered when she discovered that she had a tumour in her head one day from a CAT scan the doctor performed on her. He advised her that she needed to undergo surgery or else she would be facing death.

That day, Serenity came home and cried herself to sleep wondering why she must face one medical problem after another. She had recovered from a major eye surgery just a few years prior, thanks to the help of her brother Joey, and now was facing a brain tumour. Luck was not kind to her. She closed her eyes briefly, thinking about her brother and what he had gone through to help raise the money for her eye surgery. Not wanting to trouble him, even though she knew that he wouldn't mind helping her once more, she kept the tumour a secret and took extra shifts at her retail store.

Serenity worked for hours folding and stocking clothes at the clothing boutique. Her endless hours of working left her tired and the stress from thinking about her tumour made her nights restless. She had a hard time focusing on school and her grades began to fall behind causing her to lose her scholarship.

 _'I am strong.'_ She reminded herself. _'I will get through this.'_

Unfortunately, Serenity got laid off one day from work and was falling behind on rent. She applied everywhere, retails, fast foods, banks; only to get a sympathetic letter of rejection each time. The economy was certainly suffering. Out of her most desperate moment, she turned to one of the most frowned upon occupation, stripping.

She viewed her bank account and found that she had about a hundred dollars left. She invested that small amount of money she had into a couple of pole and lap dancing lessons. After a couple of lessons she auditioned in a strip club and they granted her employment.

Within a month she made enough to catch up on rent and was very close to reaching the amount of money she needed for her surgery. Gentlemen there adored her and her innocent looks worked to her advantage. One of them tried paying her to have sex with him but she did not hesitate to refuse. Prostitution was where she drew the line. There was no way in hell she was going to let herself sink to that level, being a stripper was humiliating enough.

* * *

As she performed an exotic dance on the pole, her breasts bounced up and down gracefully; gentlemen began to wave dollar bills in the air waiting for her to fetch it. There was no pride left in her now as she began to lean closer to them, allowing them to stuff the side of her thong with dollar bills. Not a proud moment for her, but she was determined to save enough money for her surgery. The music finally ended and she was anxious to get away. She staggered off the stage as fast as her stripper heels can carry her. She can hear the audience cheering and clapping from behind as she headed for the make-up room.

"You did excellent! Oh, my gosh! I can't believe that was your first time on stage. I couldn't tell!" Exclaimed Cherry, another stripper who was a young slender blonde girl. Cherry had been very kind to Serenity; the rest of the strippers at the gentlemen's club had been bitches. Serenity never bothered to ask Cherry what her real name was, she only knew her by her stripper name. The girls quickly adapted to having been seen as mere objects for their customers, because of that, their names where something the ladies could hold onto for the night, something personal to lock away when their shift started and something to go back to when their shift ended. Serenity remembered a tale from her childhood from a happier time when her mother explained why she gave the name 'Serenity' to her when she was born. She was named so she could be blessed to have a calm & peaceful life, and for the first half of her childhood, it was right, Serenity was a calm and happy child in a stark contrast to her older brother Joey who was hyper and impatient. However, her name could not fix the problems she had to face, and so when first starting the job she made sure to choose a name that was nothing like her real name.

It took Serenity a while to come up with a stripper name herself, but Cherry suggested that she be called Blossom and together they would be 'Cherry Blossom.' Serenity agreed and everyone at the strip club knew her by that name.

Gossip began to spread throughout the make-up room that a wealthy man was going to pay the club a visit. He came once a month and tipped the girls there with hundred dollar bills rather than a one dollar bills. Girls began to scatter around the make-up area attempting to look even more beautiful; reapplying lipsticks and foundation to freshen up their looks.

"Why does he have to come the day my tanning salon screws up on my spray on tan?" Complained a brunette stripper dressed in a red set of bra and panties. She was trying desperately to powder down her orange tan, fogging up the area around her.

"Take it easy!" Cried another as she coughed and fanned away the powder in the air.

Serenity was anxious to meet this gentleman; if he was as generous as they portrayed him to be, then she might get lucky and score big. She might even make enough for her surgery and never have to look back. She joined the girls at the make-up table and began to doll up as well.

* * *

Later, Cherry ran into the make-up room, excited, and announced that the generous man had arrived. "He's here! He's here!" She shouted, ecstatically.

The girls threw themselves out the door in a frenzy to welcome him. Serenity stayed behind re-brushing her hair and questioned herself if she had looked good enough.

 _'I'm beautiful.'_ She said to herself. _'I'm a young confident woman.'_

She sighed at the mirror to her reflection and picked up a black feather boa from her chair and loosely held it so that it would rest on each of her forearms. She began to make her way out of the make-up room and into the club where music played vividly. "Where's the wealthy man?" She asked Cherry.

"In the VIP room." She answered. "Only a few girls are selected to join him."

"Blossom!" The club owner yelled suddenly. He was an old hefty man dressed in a grey suit. He gestured her to come over.

"Yes?" Serenity asked once she reached him.

"That guy in the VIP room is a big spender, one of my most precious customer's." He began as he puffed out a ring of smoke from his cigar. "I want you to join him tonight. You're a fresh face and the gentlemen here adore you. I think you are what he needs tonight."

Serenity heart began to race. She had been selected to join the wealthy man in the VIP room. She nodded and nervously made her way to the VIP area. She reached for the door knob and twisted it slowly, trying to calm her nerves down. As she opened the door and walked in she saw a familiar face. He sat comfortably on the couch and gazed at her with his blue eyes.

She gasped and blood rushed to her face when she realized that those were _**Seto Kaiba's**_ blue eyes staring back at hers.

* * *

(A/N: Doing a new thing where I don't subtitle the chapters in my normal way & just number them.

Okay so, the title may seem silly now but it's meant to reference the tumour in Serenity's brain and the grind being a pun with how Serenity is doing so much work to get the surgery and how she pole dances.

Yes this story was adopted from 's 'A Pole to Grind On.' The author has abandoned the story (And I guess ?) but I have adopted it before they orphaned it. The author has now deleted the original story from their page but if you were a fan of it, please give this version a go! I'll try to keep as much to the original storyline as possible but I'm going to put my own spin on things.

I have a friend that does pole dancing but not in a strip club. This story is a work of fiction so if you actually know how pole dancing works this story will make you laugh. (For one it doesn't take just a few lessons to learn how to do a full dance on the pole, mostly the first few sessions is training your body on how to pull yourself onto the pole and how to do a simple spin. I recommend pole dancing for anyone wanting to build toned muscles. It works really well on your torso, legs and arms but if you do please seek a trained professional because it can be dangerous. (As can any sport!)


	2. Chapter 2

Serenity stood stiff and felt the urge to run out the door, but she was paralyzed from shock. A tap on the shoulder awoke her body, snapping her frozen mind back to reality.

"Move over!" Demanded a female voice. She didn't pay attention to who had said it; her eyes were still gazing at Seto, who was slouching uneasily on the couch now. Abruptly, Serenity covered her breasts with one arm. Embarrassed, she quickly went out of the room. She walked aimlessly across the club to take haven in the make-up room.

"Blossom?" She heard her boss calling out to her over the loud music, but ignored it till she felt his hand on her bare shoulder.

She turned to look at him, her eyes meeting his dark brown ones. "Yes?"

"You're supposed to be in there!" He said pointing to the VIP area.

" _ **He's**_ in there!"

"I know the man that is in there, everyone knows the man in there. It's Seto Kaiba. He comes here discretely entering from the back to avoid the press." He stated.

"I can't go back in there." She pleaded.

"No. You need to get back in there." He insisted. "I need a new face in there."

" _ **I can't!"**_ She refused and took a large step back, nearly tripping in her 9-inch heels. She continued to the make-up room and slammed the door behind her. Three other girls looked up and their gaze followed Serenity till she took a seat in front of a mirror trying to gather herself together. Suddenly, the door flung open and in walked her boss.

"Hey!" Shouted a redhead girl with porcelain skin as she quickly threw on a pink satin robe. "You're not allowed in here!"

"Oh, please, Diamond! It's not like I've never seen any one of you naked before. What the hell am I violating, sexual harassment? It's a goddamn strip club!" Then his eyes fell upon the stripper with the horrible spray on tan, she was back in the room still trying to fix it. "What the hell happened to you, Candy? You look like an anorexic orange or a tangerine!" He stated.

"It's not looking any better?" She asked adding even more powder.

"Stop it!" He demanded. "You're making yourself look blotchy now!" Then walked passed her till he reached Serenity, "Blossom, you're going to be in that VIP room ASAP. I'm giving you five more minutes." He warned, before he left the room he turned facing Serenity to deliver a threat. "Or I will not hesitate to fire you!"

An ocean of stress consumed Serenity, now she knew that she was left with no choice but to face Kaiba. "Five minutes!" She heard him shout again.

* * *

There were many gorgeous ladies at the club, different reasons united them there, but they were all there to do the same thing and that was to make money. Some girls vowed to themselves that they were only going to work there temporary; saving enough money to pay for college was a common reason. However, a lot grew comfortable with the money and winded up working there for years. Many even dropped out of college. Serenity prayed that she would be different. There was no way she was going to let herself dwell in such a sinful occupation for so long. Her goal was to save just enough money and that decision was firm.

She never had to worry about bumping into her brother since she knew for a fact that he was not the type of man who would objectify women. He treated women with respect. The thought of having to be topless in front of Kaiba overwhelmed her. The feeling was awkward.

Unfortunately, it had to be done or else her damn boss would fire her. Being fired from a strip club would be even more embarrassing. She would fall behind on rent once again and never save enough money for her surgery. Serenity massaged her head for a little bit, the headache seemed to worsen every passing day. She has no clue of how much time she had, but she knew that she had to do whatever it took and she had to do it fast.

Gathering back her strength and sanity, she made her way back into the VIP area once more. After pushing the door open, she saw Sapphire, a young sexy brunette stripper. She wore a cheeky blue panty and was grinding on Kaiba's lap. Facing him, she dug his face into her naked large breasts and he awarded her with a couple of hundred dollar bills. His attention focused on Serenity, a dark smirk fell upon his face.

' _What could he be smirking about?'_ She wondered.

A blonde topless girl with long wavy hair walked over and filled his cup with more alcohol. She had perfect skin, but looked plastic all around, with fake breast implants, lip injections, and a possible butt lift. She looked almost like a Barbie, and not in a good way. They figured the drunker he got the more generous he became. "Remy Martin, VSOP. The finest cognac here." She winked as she poured.

"Tell your boss I told him to stop being so cheap and upgrade to Remy Martin Black Pearl." He said.

"That's $55,000 a bottle!" The blonde exclaimed.

"That's lunch money to me." He boosted as he shot her a grin.

It was clear that he had not been drinking a lot, alcohol had not possessed him yet and he was nowhere near being drunk. Perhaps a few more drinks would do the trick.

The VIP room was set at a good temperature; not too cold and not too hot, but goose bumps took over Serenity's body and chills ran down her spine.

"I want you to give me a lap dance." He shamelessly ordered as he pointed at Serenity.

Embarrassed, Serenity obeyed and walked over to him. He pulled her down to sit on his lap. "Serenity Wheeler." He whispered against her ears. She felt blood rushing to her face again. "Show me what you got!" He screamed and all the strippers in the room began to cheer, egging Serenity on. Some of them had been drinking as well.

"Yeah! Blossom!" She heard them shout.

A new track of music began and the lighting in the room started to dim. The music had a slow beat to it, a very seductive tune.

Serenity began to work her magic. Placing both of her hands on each of his thighs, she leaned closer till her breasts were just inches away from his face.

A small smile began to appear on him. He didn't know how she ended up at a strip joint and was taken aback by it. He started to take pleasure in wondering how Joey would react once he found out about this because Kaiba doubted that Joey was aware of all this.

Serenity spun around to give him a good view of her ass as she bounced her small booty up and down. Finally, Kaiba had lost it and burst out with laughter. It made him feel fantastic to be able to objectify a Wheeler. He never fancied them and found Joey to be highly annoying. Now he was here treating Joey's sister like a doormat and loving every second of it.

She ignored his laughter and continued on grinding on him. At the moment, he didn't find the lap dance to be erotic; he found it to be hilarious because it was coming from a Wheeler. Instead of tipping her with hundred dollar bills like he did for the other strippers, Kaiba stuffed the side of Serenity's thong with one dollar bills and enjoyed the look of disappointment on her face.

Suddenly, she turned around and faced him, her hands placed gently on his thighs. Her eyes met his and he gazed into her innocent eyes. His smile vanished. Even though the music was still playing and drunken girls were cheering, Kaiba's world became silent. Everything was quiet and the people around him became a blur. It was just him and Serenity. Lust dominated him as she sat on his lap facing him, with one legs on each of his side. He heard and felt her breath on his neck, as she moved her hips back and forth, practically dry humping him, she felt a bulge in his pants and it grew larger each time she moved back and forth. Beads of sweat began to form on Kaiba's forehead. Now he was developing an urge to take her away from here. Away from this hell hole. Serenity stood up and was finished with her lap dance. She left the room in a hurry.

"Wait!" She heard him shout for her. "Wait!" He shouted again. "Stop!" Girls began to throw themselves at Kaiba. There was a crowd of strippers in front of him which made it difficult for him to run after her. She disappeared and left Kaiba behind with a group of money hungry strippers, blushing the entire way back.


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N: Sorry for the sudden authors note guys but I had to address a review a guest left behind. Good grief guest! Wh-why-HOW on earth could you assume that this would be a Puppyshipping fic? I'm sorry for being rude, but how idiotic! This story summary is quite **clearly stated as a SILENTSHIPPING** fic and has Seto and Serenity on the freaking cover!? And your idea of using your crush's sibling as a replacement is disgusting. Not hot. Seto DID NOT think about Joey 'a lot' at all! He was focused on Serenity the entire time. I'd like to say thanks for reviewing but your assumption was so stupid and really, you're not interested in my story at all! If you want a puppyshipping fic, go and find one because I won't be writing one. Respect to you if you ship it but I don't, and even if I did I'd clearly state what romantic pairing would be involved in the story beforehand. Judging by your plot-wishes I'm going to assume that you just want a porno fic with Serenity bashing instead of a well-written multi-chapter story. If that's what you want I hope you get satisfied finding it from another author; but not here. I suggest you stop reading now because that will never happen in this or any of my future stories.

Apologies to actual readers of this story for the above rant. If you wish to leave a review it does help me update faster! Lack of reviews to me signals lack of interest regardless of how many views this story is getting or how many of you are just favoriting this story without reviewing. Don't be a jerk. If you add this to your subscriptions, leave a review behind too once your done with the chapter. =D )

* * *

They clung on to him like vampires thirsty for blood except it was his money that they craved. He yanked his arm away from one of the girls and waved down a security member in the room. The tall hulk like man rushed over, signalling the ladies to calm down.

"Bring your boss in here and shoo these girls out. I need to talk to him." Kaiba hissed.

The security nodded and motioned the girls out of the room. They groaned in disappointment, wondering why the party was over all of a sudden.

Kaiba slumped back down on the couch waiting for the club owner to walk in. He kept replaying the lap dance Serenity had performed for him over and over again in his brain like a broken record. _Could it be true?_ He asked himself.

He couldn't help but to feel a concern for her all of a sudden, he closed his eyes briefly, remembering her innocent eyes staring back at his. She had this distinctive look in her eyes that created havoc in the pit of his stomach; evidence of trouble and help lingered in it. Life and joy had deteriorated from her.

 _But why the concern for her all of a sudden?_ He wondered. Why the change of heart from feeling the pleasure of objectifying her to feeling guilty. At that point, he was not sure, the questions floating around in his head continued on unanswered.

Kaiba reached over to a small table next to his couch and wrapped his hand around the drink that the blonde had poured for him earlier. He gave it a sip but spat it back out. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he made a disgusted face. "Remy Martin VSOP my ass." he muttered. Something didn't taste right about that cognac, or maybe he just wasn't in a drinking mood tonight.

"Kaiba, what is it that we need to discuss?"

His cold blue eyes rose to the club owner and he signalled the hefty man to take a seat. "Amauto, how long has Serenity been working at your club?" he asked.

"Serenity...," he trailed off trying to recall who that was. Amauto usually addressed the girls here by their stripper names so their real names had faded from his old memory. Kaiba took note that the man was having trouble figuring out who he was talking about and decided to give him a minor description of Serenity.

"Blossom?" he watched as Kaiba nodded. "Um, almost a month now."

"Did she tell you why she wanted to work here?"

" _Hell_ , should I know? She may have, but I don't remember. I'm running a club with over a hundred strippers, you gotta remember that." He replied.

It was true, the club was always jammed with strippers swarming around like honey bees in their hive.

Kaiba frowned noting that the owner was not helpful. "Bring her to me." he commanded.

Amauto pulled back his sleeve, revealing a gold exquisite watch and gave it a glance. "Sorry, it's 3AM, she went home."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? This is a strip club not a brothel. They come here, do their business, and when their shift ends they leave."

"Where does she live?"

"Why are you asking me where she lives?" He asked, wondering why Kaiba was interrogating him. "Look, I like you, you're one of my most treasured customers...but, I can't have you stalking my girls."

 **"I'm not trying to stalk her!"** He bellowed, his ego aching from the comment. _Nobody called him a stalker._ "I believe she is in trouble. Which is why she's here. I think she needs help." He preceded his voice softer this time, but still, Kaiba could not comprehend why he had developed sympathy for her, something in his mind told him to reach out. His hand formed a fist in vexation on the armrest of the couch.

Amauto scoffed at Kaiba's concerns, "You're out of character today. Please don't tell me you're falling in love with a stripper! I get one too many customers walking in here playing hero, trying to rescue girls from this corrupted business. It's a cliché. Besides, I'm not allowed to give out addresses, it's against club policy. I can get my ass sued if I did, I'd be violating the laws of privacy. You wouldn't like it if I announced to the press that you were here because you want your privacy and I respect that. I do for these girls too."

"Alright." Kaiba agreed. He had a point. "-But can you at least tell me when she'll be back?"

"Tomorrow. 8pm."

"Great." Kaiba calmly stated as he stood up, "I'm done here for now." He made his way out the back door of the VIP room that led outside. "Oh." He turned around to face Amauto who was walking him out. "Stop being a cheap bastard and use authentic Remy Martin."

Amauto crocked his head slightly, not following him. "What the hell are you talking about?" He asked defensively.

"You're reusing the Remy Martin VSOP bottle and pouring cheap shit in there."

"I do no such thing!" He shouted.

"You really think I don't know."

"Don't accuse me of such a thing! If you're not satisfied, go to that ghetto strip club down the street. The girls there are hideous. **UGLY** , I tell ya! And the club _reeks_ like something had died there for months. Health inspectors should go down there to figure out what that stench is! The next closest club is fifty miles away from here and that one is under my management as well!"

Indeed, Amauto had a lot of faith in his strip club and took pride in it being one of the best. He was sure Kaiba would never be foolish enough to leave his club for the beat up one down the street.

Kaiba stared at Amauto with annoyance blazing in him. Oh, how he wanted to punch the cockiness right out of that bastard, but he just rolled his eyes and continued on out, entering the black limo that had been waiting for him all night.

* * *

Serenity got into her car, letting her pedal know that she was in a rush to get to her apartment, she was dying to get away from the club. The car she drove was not a luxury one, it was one that her brother had saved up to buy for her so that she didn't have to take the bus to school or work. It was a small blue sedan with tinted windows. The paint on the roof of the car was beginning to peel, definitely not a new car, but it was a gift from her brother's heart. _' & wallet, it's not like I can afford the luxury of buying another car right now.'_ She thought.

She did her best to fight back the tears that were battling their way out of her brown eyes. Kaiba had humiliated her and she found that hard to shrug off. How _dare_ her cheapen her, tipping her with one dollar bills only to watch the disappointment look on her face. She walked out of the VIP room with only five dollars while the others made almost a grand! He was nothing but a bully with money. Serenity became furious and her pride would not allow her to go home with his damn dollars. In fact, before she got to her car, she donated all of it to a homeless man on the street.

"I am strong." She whispered to herself and other words of encouragement as well.

 _'Perhaps I should confess to Joey and ask for his help.'_ She thought. She had enough of being degraded.

Serenity opened the door to her cosy studio apartment and staggered in, it had been a long and exhausting day for her. Serenity threw her pink little purse on her study desk and walked over to her bed to sleep.

A knock on her door woke her up, she let out a weary groan and glanced at her clock noticing that it was 9am. Joey always stopped by on Saturday around that time. She dragged herself out of bed to greet him.

"Joey!" she gave him a hug and invited him in.

"Serenity, last night I went to that little clothing boutique to find you. I asked the manager where you were, but they said that you got laid of like a month ago."

"Right, I did..." She confessed. "-But, no worries! I got a new job now."

Joey took a seat in her little dining table. "Where at?"

"Um...Just at this little coffee shop near Domino University." She lied. "I wouldn't go there, their coffee's aren't really that great." She forced a smile on her face, but inside she was aching with guilt from having to lie to him. _'Should I tell him what's been going on?'_ She wondered.

"Serenity..." He began. "I truly admire you. You're smart and hard working. I want to make something out of myself. I want to go to college!"

Serenity was smiling genuinely now. "Really?"

"Yeah. I've been working at this little fast food place and I've been saving half of my checks to pay for my college! Isn't that great, sis?"

"Yes, Joey, that's awesome!"

"Plus, there's this duelling competition that gives you scholarships. I'm'ma try it out! Ha, but that ain't till next year. I saved enough to start as soon as next semester!"

"Joey, that's fantastic!" She pondered for a moment. "An entire scholarship from a duelling competition?"

"Yeah! It's a pretty recent thing, but I guess people have figured out that duelling is just as great as any other sport so why not scholarships?"

She giggled. "Yes, maybe one day there'll be entire schools set up for learning about duelling!"

Joey laughed wholeheartedly at her response.

Now she really didn't want to ask her brother for help, he had spent a great amount of hours to save up for college and was excited about it. There was no way she was going to put Joey in that position. _No way!_

She pulled out two bowls of cereal and poured them each some milk. Saturday was her favourite day, no matter how busy she was she always set a day aside to see Joey. The two enjoyed their breakfast and a conversation about a horror film that they saw last week.

"Do you want to join me and my friends for another movie night?" He asked.

Serenity shook her head. She wish she could, but she had to work tonight at eight and hoped that she would not have to encounter Kaiba there again.


	4. Chapter 4

_(_ _A/N:_ _Special shout out to Yami Bloodspill & Katie for leaving a review! This update is because of you guys being kind enough to leave a review! Thank you so much!_

 _Oh and Katie, since you don't have an account I'll answer your review here! Yes Seto is starting to fall for her but he doesn't realise its love yet! And as for taking their relationship to the next level…well they have to start it first!)_

* * *

Kaiba sat at his dinner table gazing at his watch anxiously, waiting for 8pm to come.

"Seto? You haven't touched your steak yet!"

He looked down at his plate and realized that Mokuba was right; he hadn't even taken a bite of his dinner. "What's wrong?" He heard his brother say.

"Nothing." He replied. "I just have to make sure I leave the house at eight."

"Why?"

He looked up at the young boy who was enjoying the dinner, savouring every bite of it. "I have some place I must go to."

"Where?" He asked.

Kaiba hesitated for a while before answering. "To a _godforsaken_ place." He said finally.

Mokuba stopped eating and looked up at his older brother from across the table. "Godforsaken place?"

"Yes...and we shall leave it at that." He said. It wasn't like him to leave Mokuba in the dark, he always filled Mokuba in on everything, but this was different. _Very different._

The clock finally read eight and Kaiba rose from the dinner table promptly. "I'm going now." He said throwing down a handkerchief on the table next to his untouched meal. "I'll see you tomorrow morning Mokie."

" **Wait!** You're still taking me to see that movie right?" He said, hoping that Kaiba had not forgotten.

"Of course, I always keep my promises to you." He assured, as he made his way out to one of his employee's was waiting for him outside of the house.

* * *

The man greeted Kaiba with a trench coat and a fedora hat in one hand, he handed Kaiba those following items and a key as well. "It's that car over there." He indicated, pointing to a red car.

Kaiba saw the car and nodded in approval. He threw on the black trench coat and the gray hat and walked over to the car. The man waited next to the car as Kaiba got in and tried to start the engine but the car made a rattling noise. "The hell?"

"You told me to go fetch you a shitty car so no one knows it's you when you head down there." The man said, defensively. "It made its way here just fine."

Kaiba turned the key to start the car again. No luck. "This piece of shit refuses to go anywhere tonight." Disappointed, Kaiba got out of the car and slammed the door. "Where's your car?" He demanded and watched as the man pointed to a silver Toyota. "Let me borrow it tonight."

The man nodded and reached into his pocket for his keys and handed it over to Kaiba.

Kaiba took it from the man's hand, got in the silver car and drove off to the club. After reaching his destination, he parked the car and approached the strip joint.

* * *

Being a Saturday night, the club was packed and a long line formed outside. He waited impatiently in the cold, mentally beating himself up for not arriving earlier. Then he became irritated at the thought of why he was going through all this. He reached the front of the line an hour later. "ID." He heard the bouncer say. Annoyed, he reached for his wallet and showed the man his ID.

"Seto Kaiba?" Whispered the brawny bouncer after observing the ID and getting a better glance at Kaiba's face. Kaiba motioned the man to hush. Confused as to why Kaiba had decided to wait in line like the others, he lifted the rope and let Kaiba through.

Kaiba walked in gazing at the club filled with beautiful women, he took a seat in the lounging area waiting for Serenity to appear. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to find Amauto.

"One of my bouncers said you came in from the front entry dressed like-" he took a step back to get a better view of Kaiba's outfit. "A person from the mafia."

"A what?"

"A mafia member or a private detective were his exact words actually...Why?" He asked intrigued by Kaiba's behaviour and fashion. "Do you want me to play along?" His voice low so that others won't hear.

"Play what? I'm not playing any games tonight."

"Oh, come on. You're probably bored of being rich and decided to change it up today; I go through that sometimes too. Actually, no, I never get bored of being rich. So how do you want to play this time? Seedy husband bored of his wife at home? Teenage virgin looking for some exotic moves? I saw on my surveillance camera that you arrived in a cheap car. Speaking of cars, I bought a new Mercedes Benz the other day. Business is great."

Kaiba ignored the old man's rambling and adjusted his hat to hide his face some more. "I'm here because I want to speak to Serenity in private."

"Blossom? You're here to harass her?"

"I'm just curious as to why she is here." He said, fighting the urge to punch Amauto in the face. How dare he think that _**the**_ Seto Kaiba was here to harass?

"Why are you wasting your money valued time to figure out why she's here? Have you gone mad?" He asked and Kaiba wished that he could answer that question as well. "Who cares why she's here. You're possessed!"

"Here's your glass of Remy Martin, Sir." Said a girl as she handed Amauto the glass.

He took it and thanked the girl as she went away.

"Just let me be, for tonight." Kaiba requested.

"Fine. Do as you please." He took a sip from his glass. **"What the fuck?"** He said when he realized that Kaiba was right. The cognac did taste different. "This tastes like **shit**! What the hell is this?" He bellowed and stormed off to the bar area to investigate, leaving Kaiba alone.

 **"Who's fucking me over?"** He roared at the three bartenders. **"Are one of you working for that** **damn** **club down the street? Trying to** **ruin my** **business?"**

They all stared at him, eyes widened with fear.

 **"You, you, and you!"** He screamed and pointed at each one of them. **"In my office!"**

They hurried away leaving the bar area empty and Kaiba wondered who was going to prepare the drinks for customers in the busy strip joint now.

"Would you like a lap dance, mister?" A dark haired girl asked, interrupting his thoughts. He shook his head still facing down so that she wouldn't recognize him. He dare not speak for fear of being contemplated. She shrugged off the rejection and moved on to the next gentleman.

After patiently waiting for a while, he saw Serenity walking out of the make-up room. She was topless with glittery pasties with red satin panties; she wore very little make-up, reminding Kaiba of how innocent and pure she really was. She also wore a vibrant glossy lipstick with glittery effects to it, he noted from the back of his mind how sexily it complimented her outfit and made her lips all the more appetising, Kaiba couldn't help but unconsciously lick his lips at the sight of her. The fact she stood out with a natural, bare face made him focus on her eyes, so bright and deep. This was unknown territory to Kaiba, and he wanted to know more.

He watched as she gave one of her co-worker a hug, a blonde slender woman. Their bare breasts pressed against each other. He couldn't help but feel a bit excited at the image. "Good luck, Cherry!" He heard her say to the girl.

Serenity walked around the club, a man in the same lounging area as Kaiba stopped her by grabbing on to her wrist, "Hey, sweet cheeks." He said and pulled her down on his lap aggressively.

Kaiba eyed the man with rage and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He could tell that the man was making her feel awkward.

Serenity forced a smile on her face. "Hi."

"That is a nice little ass you got there." He said and gave it a smack.

She stood up. "You're not allowed to do that here!" She scolded, "You can't touch us like that without our permit!"

"Oh!" He said with a sheepish smile and pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet. "Would this change anything?" He asked, waving the money in Serenity's face.

"I'm not comfortable around you." She said and got up to leave, but the pervert snatched her and forced her down on his lap again.

She looked around for help, but couldn't spot her boss anywhere. And where were security team when you needed them? She thought. All the other strippers were preoccupied and the customers were too busy enjoying themselves. She didn't notice Kaiba, who was seating in the dark corner of the area glaring at the whole scene with anger.

The pervert grabbed her ass and gave it another smack, leaving red burning marks down Serenity's pale body.

"Stop it!" She yelled. Her eyes starting to water from the stinging pain.

In an instant, Serenity was on the floor and she noticed that the pervert was being held against his chair by a man and was being punched repeatedly.

* * *

 **"One of you are going to pay for what you have done!"** Screamed Amauto, his face red like a tomato. "Who is diluting the Remy Martin? **WHO**!?" He demanded, sitting in his desk glaring at his three employees.

The three bartender eyed each other in his office and shrugged.

"No one? Somebody's adding water to it, watering it down so that I look like a cheap idiot. Who?"

Still. No answer.

"If no one speaks up on a count to three, I will fire all of you! You will be replaced so fast, I swear to god!" He shouted and began counting. "One...two..."

 **"Boss!** " shouted Candy, her skin still suffering from the bad spray on tan. "A fight broke out in the lounging area!" She said frantically.

"Drama in my strip club?!" He cried and slammed his desk with his fist causing a paper weight on the edge to fall off. "Unacceptable!"

He marched off to the lounging area and saw Kaiba pinning down one of his customers, assaulting him.

* * *

Kaiba kept punching, he pretended the pervert's face was Amauto's and punched again. His hat fell off, revealing his face to the crowd that had gathered around to watch the chaos. They gasped when they saw that it was the famous Seto Kaiba.

One of the gentlemen had captured the whole incident on his little recording device.

Securities had to force Kaiba off of the bruised faced man and restrained him.

" **Whoa**! Kaiba must be related to Mike Tyson or something because **DAMN** that guy could punch!" He heard someone in the crowd shouted.

Kaiba looked around to find Serenity but she was nowhere in sight. He assumed that she must have run away to safety or hiding in the make-up room. He wasn't sure.

" **MOVE**!" Demanded Amauto as he forced his way through the crowd to reach Kaiba. "What the hell are you doing now?" He asked once he had reached him.

Kaiba ignored him and exited the club, leaving the hat behind. There was no point in hiding now, he thought. He walked to the silver car and hated that it had started to rain. He took off the trench coat and slammed it onto the wet dirty ground. "What the hell was I thinking?" He asked himself, letting the rain soak him up. He saw a girl storming out of the club and recognized it to be Serenity immediately. She wore a tattered trench coat on her shoulders, not bothering to pull her arms through the beige sleeves and was staggering back to her car.

His gaze followed her and he noticed that she didn't get in her car. Instead, she leaned against it and let herself be drenched in the rain as well. She covered her face with her hands and began to cry.


	5. Chapter 5

_( **A/N:** Reviews make updates faster on this story! Hoping that I'll can update if I get to double-digit reviews!)_

* * *

To approach or not to approach?

That was the question that was floating around in Kaiba's head as he stared at the poor girl who was crying in the cold rain. A heavy sigh left his lips, his breath created a fog in the freezing air. He kept wiping away the rain drops that had fallen on his face, but gave up eventually. What was the point? It was pouring and hell, he was already soaked.

There was no more time to waste as he decided to approach her. He walked towards her, avoiding puddles of water along the way. "Serenity." He said coolly once he had reached her. He saw her looking up at him, the raindrops were disguising her tears but her swollen eyes gave away the fact that she had been crying.

"What do you want?" She sneered, but silence was her only reply. Frustrated, she turned away from him and started to open the door to her car. A hand on her shoulder stopped her from entering. She spun around. "What do you want?" She asked again. She saw that he had a look of concern on his face and noted that he was entirely wet from the rain too.

"Why are you working here?

"Why do you care?" She snapped. Serenity was sick and tired of him lingering around her. Pinched in long-suffering irritation, Serenity's exhale was audible. ' _What was he looking for? Shouldn't he be at home in his big mansion plotting of ways to make more money?'_ She thought. Then she wondered why he risked being spotted by protecting her from that pervert. ' _Was he out looking for a charity case?_ ' Kaiba was either mentally possessed by an angel or simply had something diabolic up his sleeve. She wasn't sure. "Why did you help me back there?"

 _All these questions she threw at him, why couldn't she just be grateful?_ "That asshole deserved every punch I gave him. Frankly, I wasn't even done with him. I know you're not a slut, you're an innocent girl strangled in this corrupted business. I saw it in your eyes...Why?" Kaiba always had good judgment, he could easily tell between a bad girl and a good girl. He was sure that this Wheeler fell under the good girl's list. He took a step closer to her and within a second he felt her head on his chest. Her little arms shyly wrapped around him. Her tattered coat now fallen off her shoulders and now caught in-between her car door and the back of her waist. She could feel Seto's body heat radiating from him and somehow, it was keeping her warm.

At that moment, she didn't care who he was, she just needed someone to lean on because the night had consumed her, leaving her numb and dead inside. She just wanted to hear the comforting sound of a beating heart.

Kaiba stood there, allowing her to rest her head against his hard chest. He felt the warmness coming from her little fragile body. A collection of emotions ran through his mind. What he wanted was to find out if her skin was as soft as it appeared to be. Never thought he'd catch himself wanting to do that, but he held Serenity back and with the back of his hand, he gently stroked her cheeks. Indeed, her skin on her angelic face was extremely soft.

She stared at him, her heart hammering hard against her ribs. Was he actually stroking her cheeks with such gentleness?

Her soft cheeks, beautiful wet hair, and innocent looking eyes were enough to make him want to kiss her. Without hesitation, he leaned close to her and their lips met. He kissed her softly and slowly. He wasn't sure why he had let his guard down and kissed her. But her lips felt soft against his and he had no regrets of doing it.

Kissing this innocent beauty somewhat made him feel as if he had entered a different world. A kind and gentle world where life was never hard. An innocent world that his mother had tried to create for him as a child, but he knew never existed.

Serenity eyes widened as he kissed her, but she calmly let herself loose and began to close her eyes. If his goal was to make her forget about her dreadful night than he had succeeded. Now the angry thought of that pervert was gone and pleasure filled up her entire body. She wanted to touch him, to feel his muscles. Instead, she gripped onto her car handle from behind her, holding on to it tightly. As if she literally feared that his kiss might actually sweep her off her feet.

He tasted of black coffee. He probably drank a lot of it to keep himself up late at night to work, she thought. But, she didn't mind the taste at all. If anything, the taste awakened something in her body, making her want more.

 _Making her want him._

He never got an answer as to why she was working as a stripper and he may not get that answer tonight. Whatever the reasons were, he was sure that it would come out eventually. After all, the truth always had a way of coming out and that thought never failed him.

Distancing himself from her wasn't easy, but being a Kaiba, dealing with the uneasy was his specialty. After all, running a multi-billion dollar company was never easy. Choices had to be made, good ones that is. He took a step back from her ending the kiss, "You give in life once, it'll control you." He eyed the club with his cold blue eyes, "They will control you. That business will eat up your soul if it hadn't already. You don't have to sink to that level. Whatever it is that you desperately need, there are more than one way to go about it. Don't let life control you, you need to take control of your life."

Serenity knew Kaiba was a loner with a capital L. He went through life solo and she found that to be depressing. He was no doubt a strong-minded man though, she was sure that there was no one out there who would be able to control him. The only person that she could think of who would be lucky enough to see the softer side of him would be his little brother, Mokuba.

"Control..." He whispered softly but firmly, his cold stare trapping her in place. "...is everything."

Not sure of what to say, Serenity only stared back. She didn't know the man well enough to trust him with her tragedy. She didn't even tell Joey about her brain tumor, so why must she tell him? All she knew was that he was a rich loner, possibly a workaholic, and he despised her brother. On the other side, Joey never had much kind things to say about Kaiba either. However, Kaiba stood up for her which brought nothing but confusion upon her..and his kiss...The kiss triggered something in her innocent virginal body, leaving her wanting something more. The route to which was tempting her beyond her most sensual imagination.

An earsplitting thunder sound broke out, interrupting her thoughts about the kiss between her and Kaiba. She blushed a little, but he was too concentrated on the rain to notice. "Go home, Wheeler." He chuckled and reached around her to open up her car door, catching her coat and placing it over her shoulders again; this time she placed her arms through the sleeves.

She gave him a little glance before getting in her car, a slight smile fell upon her face. He shut her car door and quickly made his way to the silver car that he had borrowed.

Kaiba watched in the rear view mirror as Serenity drove away and waited till she was out of sight. He took extra precaution while driving in the rain, his mind beating him up with strange questions. ' _Did she like my kiss? Did I make a mistake? Am I falling for her? Have I lost my mind? Are cupids messing with me? To hell with it!'_ He screamed in his head, attempting to hush his mind up. Those questions were making him dizzy and he tried to brushed them away.

His attitude towards her changed, he went from not caring for her to wanting to beat up every man that laid their hands on her. He wanted to claim her and his protective instincts were telling him that she needed him. She needed his help, his power, his protection...maybe even his love.

* * *

"Seto Kaiba had been spotted at a gentlemen's club last night. The young CEO assaulted a man, leaving his face completely battered." Announced a young blonde news anchor lady. "We have the footage right here. There is no denying it."

Mokuba watched on his living room floor as the footage of his older brother was played on national television. "So, that's the godforsaken place he was talking about." He said to himself.

They had blurred out all the strippers to keep their identity hidden. Unfortunately, Kaiba's face was exposed for the whole world to see.

"I don't believe it! Is this some sort of publicity stunt?" Asked a male news anchor as soon as the footage ended. "Is this a desperate attempt to have people focus their attention on his company? After all, he **is** launching a new program next month."

"If anything this stunt is only going to sabotage his business." Said the female anchor. "There's rumours that this isn't the Seto Kaiba though, and is actually a lookalike. The cameraman moves around a lot so judge for yourself! Here is the footage again if any of you have missed it."

Suddenly, the television turned off and Mokuba's head spun around to see that his brother was holding onto the remote control.

Kaiba was fighting the urge to throw it through the huge television screen. "At least the moron who filmed this whole scenario captured the good side of my face." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Seto! Our company is in ruins?" He cried.

"Don't be silly, Mokuba. Everyone knows damn well that my company holds the best technology for Duel Monsters. They can't resist but to buy from us. No other companies had stood a chance against Kaiba Corp. Soon the media will be filled with other bullshit like Lindsay Lohan from America and her hundredths DUIs." With that he slammed the remote on the table and walked away. Little did the world know that he was actually defending a poor girl from a pervert that night.


End file.
